SNL Comes Under Serious Fire For Off-Color Joke About Killer

“Saturday Night Live” is under fire over a joke about the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was gunned down in a “targeted attack” outside a Manhattan hotel earlier this week.

The sketch comedy show focused on the incident at length during the long-running “Weekend Update” segment on Saturday.

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“The manhunt continues for the assassin who gunned down the CEO of United Healthcare on Wednesday, and it really says something about America that a guy was murdered in cold blood and the two main reactions were, ‘Yeah, well health care stinks!’ And also, ‘Girl, that shooter hot,'” co-host Colin Jost joked.

“New York City police say that they were able to get the smiling picture of the suspect after the man apparently was caught on camera at a local hostel, flirting with a female employee, whose name has been reported as, ‘Lucky S. Bechalive,'” co-host Michael Che added.

Insurance CEO assassination? Weekend Update goes there. #SNL pic.twitter.com/46NxM36iJM

— LateNighter (@latenightercom) December 8, 2024

The joke sparked debate on social media, with some viewers decrying the joke as “classless” and inconsiderate.

“Disgusting. I couldn’t watch this segment. The victim’s family and friends are very much grieving right now,” one person wrote beneath a YouTube clip of the segment, according to a report from Fox News. “Agreed. I don’t usually watch SNL, and I can see by the segment and comments supporting it, that I will no longer be watching it. Joking about someone’s murder like that is absolutely disgusting… a family is grieving right now,” another user added.

The murder has led to a number of disturbing takes from left-wing political pundits, journalists and activists, many of whom have argued that the killing was justified.

Disgraced former Washington Post reporter and currently Vox network podcaster Taylor Lorenz appeared to celebrate the murder on social media and seemingly suggested that other high-profile CEO’s should be next.

Lorenz — who once burst into tears while crying about being the target of “online harassment” — posted a celebratory image in response to the killing on left-wing Twitter/X clone Bluesky. Lorenz smugly doubled down in a follow-up post, saying “I’m not alone.”

“And people wonder why we want these executives dead,” Lorenz wrote in another post alongside an article about Blue Cross Blue Shield no longer covering anesthesia for the full length of some surgeries.

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